Institute for Justice

Occupational Licensing

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Article | Institute for Justice

The brothers of Saint Joseph Abbey, a century-old Benedictine monastery in Covington, La., began to sell their handmade wooden caskets in late 2007 to support their educational and health care expenses. The state board moved to shut down the monks’ fledgling business before it sold even one casket because it was a crime in Louisiana for anyone but a government-licensed funeral director to sell caskets to the public.

All Americans deserve the opportunity to earn an honest living. Yet occupational licenses, which are essentially permission slips from the government, routinely stand in the way of honest enterprise. Without these licenses, workers can face stiff fines or even risk jail time. The requirements for licensure, though, can be an enormous burden and often force entrepreneurs to waste their valuable time and money to become licensed. Additionally, these burdens too often have no connection at all to public health or safety. Instead, they are imposed simply to protect established businesses from economic competition.

IJ’s landmark study License to Work measured for the first time the burdens that occupational licensing imposed on more than 100 low- and moderate-income workers. This study has been featured in over 300 news articles throughout media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and BBC World News, as well as in a Pulitzer Finalist editorial series by The Des Moines Register, in congressional testimony, and in numerous scholarly and policy studies.

Our Strategic Research on occupational licensing was prominently cited in a white paper by President Obama’s White House Council of Economic Advisers, Department of the Treasury and the Department of Labor.

Since our founding, IJ has fought to roll back oppressive occupational-licensing rules in more than two dozen distinct occupations, ranging all the way from tax preparers to florists to traditional African hair braiders.

For a growing number of Americans, gainful employment no longer requires convincing only a potential employer or customer of their value. It requires also convincing the government. This barrier to an honest living makes entrepreneurship more difficult in general. Furthermore, it can be an effective bar on entering many low-income occupations for people with less access to financial capital or formal education. These laws are wrong—economically, morally and constitutionally. Consumers and employers, not legislators and bureaucrats, should decide who succeeds in which jobs. To expand economic opportunity and vindicate the basic constitutional right to economic liberty, IJ is dedicated to rolling back these unnecessary and harmful restrictions.

New report provides new national and state-level estimates of licensing’s costs, confirms licensing’s growth

Arlington, Va.­­­­—State occupational licensing laws force people to spend time and money earning a license instead of earning a living. But these laws also impose real costs on the wider economy—nearly 2 million lost jobs and billions of dollars in losses for consumers and the wider economy, according to a new Institute for Justice study.…

License Shaves Off Over 1,100 Hours of Useless Classes

On Thursday, a new specialty license for African-style natural hair braiders was signed into law in New Jersey. Under the law (A-3754), a braider can now become licensed after completing a maximum of 40 to 50 hours of coursework, depending on their experience level. Previously, braiders could only legally work if they had a cosmetology…

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez issued an executive order on Wednesday to reform the state’s “overly-restrictive licensure schemes.” Today, occupational licensing is one of the biggest labor market barriers in the nation, with one-third of New Mexico’s workforce needing either a license or certification to legally work. That red tape also raises prices for consumers…

Files First Amendment Lawsuit With Major Implications for Free Speech and Occupational Telepractice

For a decade, licensed veterinarian Dr. Ron Hines gave advice online from his Texas home to pet owners across the world. Then, the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners said that his advice was illegal—not because it harmed an animal or was inaccurate, but because Texas prohibits veterinarians from sharing their expertise with pet…

First Amendment Victory Vindicates Would-Be Guides’ Two-Year Battle

Charleston, S.C.—In a sweeping victory for free-speech rights, Judge David Norton of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina today issued an opinion holding that the City of Charleston’s licensing requirement for tour guides violates the First Amendment. The licensing law was challenged by three would-be tour guides—Kimberly Billups, Michael Warfield and…

State Board Awards Permits to Threaders Who Sued to Overturn Ridiculous Education and Licensing Requirements

Baton Rouge, LA—Today, after waging a two-year legal battle with the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology, a group of eyebrow threaders who challenged the state licensing requirement have received some of the first permits to thread eyebrows. Today also marks a moment when eyebrow threaders across the state are finally going back to work. That’s…